Find the courage to stand out

Sorry I haven't posted in a while; I don't remember a school year starting out quite this crazy. Although, maybe they all do and I just mentally block them out each year to stay sane.

Needless to say one thing I haven't had time to do this year is update my bulletin boards, but a precious miracle occurred and the art teacher had a student helper that needed a few extra work hours and she volunteered to do my board. I think it's perfect!

More of my favorite classrooms!

Today's favorite classroom is actually our music room. Our music teacher used to be our technology teacher, so it seems fitting her theme is one trendy game; Angry Birds.

Here's a peak at her room:

This is her "cool down" spot. I love that she re-named it to the "Restart Station." You may recall this from our special area behavior plan from this year. This is the spot where students go to complete their behavior reflection charts.  One of my favorite aspects if that she has a sign with the 3 B's (Be Responsible, Be Respectful, Be Safe) here with a prompt on what to do so she doesn't have turn her attention away from the rest of the class.

Angry Bird lanterns.

Our 3 B's.

A simple explanation of our special area behavior plan.

How cool is this! I love the way she put up her chart. It makes hanging mine up near the board look very boring. 

Best Behavior Update

My foster Boss went to his first day of doggie school today. The hardest command, "stand up!"
There was even a man with a monkey, yep a monkey. He was still on his best behavior. If he were in my class he would get a 5!

So here is my update on the special area behavior plan.
I also finally put my reflections forms on my Google Drive so you can get them here.

Instead of letting each student earn individual points (we were worried this would be tooooo much work for the entire school) we decided to let the class earn points as a whole. We will still use Class Dojo for individual students and the consequences will still be a three step process.

So here's how the new system works.

Each class starts on out entering the room on a 3. They can clip up by showing respect, responsible behavior, and safety. They can also clip down if the majority is off -task, being rude, etc.
At the end of each class they get a mark on our chart (some of our more competitive classes love to see if they can beat the other grade levels.) If they get 5 five's they get a whole class reward. For example: barefoot day, watch a book trailer, play a game on the smart board, free reading/drawing for 10 mintues, read the book of their choose, etc.

So far it's off to a great start.

Top Dog Classrooms

Slowly, but surely I am trying to take pictures of my favorite classrooms. I have an old Kodak EasyShare so sorry about the quality.

My office is coming along.

My quote board.

Where in the world is Flat Stouie?

My board. The start chart is for behavior.

Noise level expectations.

End the "Do we need? Can we use?" questions. 

Special area behavior chart. Each class earns a score at the end of each class. When they get 5 5's they get a special treat.

 These are from a first grade classroom. It's dog themed as well so of course I love it.

In the hallway. Great for me when I go to get a student and the class is gone.

An easy way to display work in the hallway. The bag stays up all year and you can easily slide papers in and out. No staples!

Standards listed by the work.

Special area schedule. Visual schedules are a must.

Adorable bulletin board to show off work.

First Grade Expectations are listed on the wall.

Parts of speech.

My Favorite Classrooms

Dr. Ray has one of my favorite rooms at DSRR. Everywhere you look there is something great. I snuck in today to take pictures, but didn't get a chance to finish. Here are the first images. More to come.

Love this way to displaying important info, pictures, etc.  The wire totally goes with her theme.

Dr. Ray is a huge music lover so it's totally fitting that she uses guitar picks with numbers for her students to check in. 

Best teacher ever right.

Need to get your students attention? In her room she says "Johnny" they say "Cash."

I just love this lamp. It's one of those hidden treasures. 

Stay tuned as I share my favorite classrooms in the building, so we can beg, borrow, and steal some awesome ideas.

Flat Stouie

Our Flat Stouie project was a huge summer success check it out!

You Will Be My Friend

Yesterday at a request of a second grade teacher I did a pop in lesson on making friends.
She has a new student who is struggling to make friends and we have several that could always use the social skills practice so here's what I did:

First we read "You Will Be My Friend" by Peter Brown.

We spent a lot time talking about the title: why did it end with an "!"?, what would you change?, what words would you switch?, etc.

 At the end of the book we brainstormed ways to introduce yourself to a new person, ways you could make friends, times you might need to make a new friend, etc.

To end we played Quiz- Quiz Trade. The game came from my new assistant principal and she was kind enough to share the directions and sample cards with us. Here's how the game works:

Website

Hi all,
Many of my links were to my school website, but last week the school system decided to use a new website provider. This means my old website is gone =(

If you need anything just send me an e-mail and I'll be working hard on a brand new school site.